been a while..

Both the TL bass cabinet and the bassguitar are being played for 6 months now,
happy with the sound, still tweaking though. The cabinet at 26 kgs is still quite heavy to lift and difficult to handle.
I wil post pics later..

Testing, testing....

Finally got round to testing the Monolith.

Still needs some serious work but sounds great with the bass plugged in!

The speaker-cover is an experiment; i was hoping to get a mesa boogie feel. Does not quite work out that way though....and it rattles. I'll make another one.

Wheels upgraded to a bigger size to take on the bumps.

Also be needing side-handles to lift the cabinet in my car. There isn't much to hold on to now. Some specs; 925 w @ 4 ohm / 2x10 inch+1 inch ducted design/ weight 25 kg / 55 lbs.

My rig

Just bought a nice korg tuner to go with my superfly and 'racked' it. It is way cool to watch this chrismas tree! BTW, it all works like a dream.. :)

A new guitar....just arrived.

After visiting about every guitar shop in the area I decided upon this one. It is a fantastic fingerpicking and strumming guitar ....happy days are here again!

You might wanna check out the video demo of tonewoods in a guitar I posted, very interesting.

(LAG GLA400DCE winter)

new pictures!

the head with tilted tuners.

through body single hipshot bridge.

Awesome!
I will try and keep the fretboard as it is with pick ups underneath.

As I am working on the heel you can admire the guitar in its current state...

Ashdown Labs Superfly Bass Head

Just bought this work of art at 325 euro's! This head has a nice built in programmable 7 band parametric EQ, compression and although its a solid state (non valve) head, it sends out 500w of stereo power (2x250w / 4 ohms). It has usb and midi. The other great thing is its portability - small size & only 5.5 kg!

It will serve me well until the UCD stereo amp gets finished, i hope :)

slow progress

I came back from my holiday curious about progress. Vox Humana had been very busy building their famous carbon rod necks for another builder and only got around finishing the headstock.
Very nicely done, I think. Pictures will follow by the end of the month when they will have finished the job.

back to the shop

I went back to the shop with body, neck, hipshot bridge and deusenberg tuners. I asked them to assemble the guitar and put string on it so I can start positioning the nordstrand fat stacks. Once that's done I will route the back cavity myself and if this works out fine, i will route the pickup cavities as well. Basic plan is to use a stereo plug and cable so i have two signals to make a nice passive sound with. If this needs further changes later on the rear cavity will house future electronics, like a OBP-3 preamp from aguilar. For now I will start out with no controls whatsoever on the guitar itself.
Meanwhile i started out to coat a test piece of mahogany with tru-oil to check out the result. Oil is said to be better on soundquality than paint. After 6 coats its getting very nice and shiny. Any scratches, dents or marks show up vividly so i will need to sand the body as smooth as possible to make sure the result is going to be satisfying.
This stuff is applied with your fingers and dries up like a clearcoat. Sanding between coats seems unnecessary. Sometimes people use shellac or polyester resin to fill the pores before but sofar it gives a good result without these steps. I like it when it is simple!

Richard Bona

I saw him last month in Utrecht, what an incredible musician and composer! He plays a Fodera with a sound that's just wonderfull. It looks like one big pickup on that guitar but it is a thumbsupport or fingerramp between both dual coils. My bass will have one to as I am missing it on my Tune.

The photo shows you what I mean. Richard, tu est formidable, merci pour le plaisir que tu donne les gens!

Baby needs a name!

Alea iacta est! Reading my blog i was thinking about a name for my bass. It will be: 'Inspiration'
because that is how it came about and what it is supposed to give me once finished.

Single bridge autotuner

How nice would it be to have an auto tuning bridge. An underbridge piezo pickup combined with tuning electronics and a servo spindle motor. So I made this concept...

Inspiration

My inspiration comes from all over the place. As far as bassguitar design goes it is Jens Ritter who combines stunning aestethics with great design aspects. I post a photo of one of his creations here. Note the peculiar ange of the pickups, he did this to optimize balance and sound. This method is working according to some builders I spoke to. Apparently most guitarists do not 'dig' this and that's why you do not see it on mainstream production guitars. I'll be installing my Fatstacks the same way..by sorting out their ideal position on an inverted jig above the strings first.

Cabinet

The whole cabinet is made of MDF, a stable cheap and easy material to work with . I could keep the thickness relatively thin as the cabinet is an open system, less prone to resonate. It has two 108mm. skatewheels For smooth rolling mounted on the base and a big handle on top. It is angled back for monitoring purposes. Total weight will be around 25 kg (55 lbs) of which 11.5 kg is speakerweight.

First time

I hooked the cabinet up to my Denon PMA-80 stereo (80 watts) and started listening. The array has no filter, just a simple capacitor. The sound blew me away and my bose hifi speakers with it.
I put on AJA (Steely Dan) and heard details I did not know were there for the past 25 years!
First thought; I want two of these! ( and donate the Bose to someone else willing to waste 25 years missing out on what Steely Dan really has to offer)
The sound is very clear and balanced totally lacking the boomy and metallic sounds you get from small PA's at these soundlevels. The Monolith is a full range cabinet 25-25.000 HZ capable of handling almost a kilowatt program.
Knowing the (very loud) volume at 80 watts program I feel confident that 400 watts class-D amp will satisfy my needs on stage.
Next on the list is a soundtest with my Tune 4 string bassguitar.

Tools

You need tools to make it happen.

Here's a picture of mine. I suggest you buy at least 4 powertools:

screwdriver, sander, saw, small routertable.

There are some very good websites about woodworking to assist you making the right choices. And Martin Kochs e-book i use is a very good guide to start out with.

The Laterre Monolith

Two cool pics of the speakers mounted on the front plate.

The Amp

I came across the UCD 400 class D amp from Hypex. It is a 90+% effective amp as small as a cigarette package and weighing no more. They have perfected the concept to a degree it can now be found in high-end stereo amps and in mono bass amps. You can look up these amps and read much more at the website of HEVOS, an outstanding manufacturer of bass amps. Basically they combine a 12AX7 tube preamp with a class-D amp into a top of the bill lightweight rackunit. It is a very nice product with a reasonable price which makes it very tempting if you're looking for good gear. I have bought all the components for my amp in rotterdam at Speaker & Co, who were very helpfull. The tube preamp I bought is of the shelve and does a good job as I am already using it for a couple of months now. Originally I was going to integrate the amp into the Monolith but have now decided against it in favor of a rackmount unit.

Front

On the right there's the front plate with the 210 array. I have bought two OEM 10 inch 400W 4ohm speakers from CIARE and a 1 inch 125W tweeter for it. Oh yes, this is my personal sanctuary, still needs a pirelli calendar to make it perfect :-)

Monolith or not?

I chose the name as a tribute to Stanley Kubrick and hope you can appreciate this thought looking at this one. If not, go watch the movie!

Wanna rub my back?

This is the rear of the cabinet with the two venting ports on top. You may think it has a nice round shape but it serves two goals; stiffnes for the cabinet as a whole and secondly elimination of standing waves or resonant frequencies as common in rectagular boxes. I think it looks immensely cool and I have had several reactions ranging from 'nice waste bin' to 'darth vader's returned!'. Eventually i will add blue or red led's inside and underneath to get the neccesary stage presence. Note the mickey mouse ears for added stability!

This project simply proves it is hipper not to be square as far as bass rigs go.

killing time

Sitting on my couch waiting for my ankle to heal here's some news on the project:
on the bassguitar I haven't done anything yet. I am still to scared to ruin the body by routing it wrongly. Once the money is there I will play it safely and outsource this task to a pro! So I turned to the basscabinet I told you about. Spraypainted it and mounted the speakers. It is a TL-cabinet in a D'appolito setup with specific features added to optimize its acoustic performance at high volumes. I have made some photo's to show you what i am up to with this contraption. Keywords to keep in mind here; better, better, better!
The goals i have set are to get the best possible hifi sound, smallest footprint on stage, good monitoring qualities, ergonomic design for transportation and handling and finally an exiting design that will add to my stage presence. And as you will appreciate at a price that puts shame on the Eden, Trace Elliot, EAD and SWR boxes out there.

Marriage foto

Fitting the neck to the body. Making a neck pocket will be daunting to say the least.

Notice the rosewood fretboard.

I ask you: why put marker dots on such a beautiful piece?

Birthplace of the neck

In this workshop the neck was custom made to my specs, notice the CNC-cutting machine in the rear. Notice how the peghead of the neck is slotted, this will allow for an optimal back angle of the strings.

Ergonomics, strap on a bassguitar and stay happy!

Most guitarists complain about the strain it gives to play their guitar all night long.
Complaints range from muscle-ache to severe chronic tendenitis. A good guitar design takes this in to account by reducing the weight, balancing it and by placing knobs and tuners so you can reach and turn them easily. Have a look at the grandfather of bassguitars, the Fender JB and you'll notice at least one flaw quickly: tuner knobs are placed in such a way that it is very hard on the shoulder to turn them in that angle. My Tune solves this partially by placing the tuner knobs angled back. Because I designed my headstock slotted I am now able to place the tuners in a zero degree angle for quick and easy tuning. Inspiration for this choice is the double bass headstock. Later on I discovered the site of the Bolin NS5 bassguitar, so I am not the first to do this. Anyway this blog is not about me as an inventor...

Shaping the body

My body

Well.....not mine but the guitars body, really! One piece to get optimal soundwave resonance. Big manufacturers often use more pieces to counteract the wood working. It is a lot cheaper aswell to use small common pieces instead of one single cut piece. But by creating "fault lines" transmision of soundwaves is dispersed and resonance energy of high frequencies will be absorbed.
So I am taking a calculated risk buying a nice flat sawn piece from a renowned woodmill, "the arnhemse fijnhout handel". It has been with me since september and it is still running straight. Thumbs up!! I chose honduran mahogany because it is one of the best tonewoods if you are looking for a full-bodied sound. Cutting the piece and shaping it is a real challenge. It constantly scares me to ruin it by sanding away to much. Has not happened though: very small steps and taking all the time you need is the secret here. I'll post a picture or two soon.

Here you see the mahogany with the 210 array, for which I have built a transmissionline cabinet.
Another project I'll show you later.

here it is freshly sawn in front of my other (tune) bass

start

Actually started in september buying a wonderfull piece of mahogany to start building a bassguitar. The goal is to end up with the best instrument I can get.

The best neck..

Sustain is nice but who holds down a note for 5 minutes in any song? So, above all, you need TONE and ATTACK. This means bolted, not neck through. No dead spots or warped neck. This means carbon trussrod. Maple neck and rosewood fretboard. 5 string sounds better when you get a longer 35" scale. Angled back +-12 degrees supports a better tone/sustain aswell. But it makes the glued peghead a weakpoint mechanically. My design solves this. And makes tuning a lot easier as I will explain later.
If you want a neck like this VOX HUMANA, holland is the place to be! They have developed their own fabrication of the carbon rods and they are fine, skillfull guitarbuilders. Furthermore, they can build one offs like my design. To get a good soundtransfer between neck and body I opt for a multiple screw (6-8) extra large connecting surface.

New idea, new problem!

So I was going to save heaps of money! Should be easy to connect a stick, board and some strings together forming the boutique instrument I was dreaming about. Not true! You need help with these kind of things. In my case I turned to a book by Martin Koch, 'building electric guitars'. I decided make the body myself and leave the building of the neck to a specialist.

The story

I decided to get a new bass and wanted a 5-string. It had to be really good. Turned out those things do not come cheap. I found out Jens Ritter, a gifted luthier builds not only beautiful basses but totally out of my league as well. Others like Pedulla or De Gier don't come far behind pricewise. Well, if you can't buy it, make it!